1.

SPECIAL AND SEMICONDUCTOR POWER DEVICES

POWER ELECTRONICS
Electrical engineering has three major areas: TYPES OF DIODES AND THEIR APPLICATION
- Electronics, Signal Diodes
- Power and This term signal diode includes all devices that have been designed for use in circuits
- Control where large current and voltage ratings are not required. The usual requirements are
 Electronics: – Deals with the study of semi-conductor devices and circuits for the for a large reverse resistance/forward resistance ratio and minimum junction
processing of information at lower power levels. capacitance.
 Power: – deals with both rotating and static equipment for the generation, They are used as general purpose while others are suited to a particular circuit
transmission, distribution and utilization of vast quantities of electrical power. application e.g. as a detector.
 Control: – deals with the stability and response characteristics of closed – loop
systems using feedback on either a continuous or sampled – data basis. Power Diodes
Power Electronics involves combination of these areas. The function of PE is to process They are most often employed for the conversion of a.c into d.c as rectifiers. The
and control the electrical energy by supplying voltage and current in a form that is important power diode parameters are PIV, maximum forward current and the
optimally suited to the load. resistance ratio. The PIV is in the range 50v –100v with a maximum forward current
of 30A. The forward resistance must be as low as possible to avoid considerable
Industrial Electronic: - Defined as the science, which deals with the electronic devices in voltage drop across the diode when the large forward current flows. This resistance is
system or operators that are particularly useful in industry and also deals with these usually not very much more than 1 or 2.
systems. PIV- This is the maximum possible voltage across the diode when it is reverse biased.
It deals with the study of:-
 Various electron devices and transducers which are used in industrial electronic Zener Diodes
systems. The huge reverse current, which flows when the breakdown voltage of a diode is
 Electric circuit used exceeded need not necessary result in damage of the source. A zener diode is
 Typical industrial electronic system. fabricated in a way which allows it to be operated in breakdown region without
 Various high power electronic devices working and control of high power supply damage, provided the current is restricted by the external resistance to a safer value.
stems, transformation of power supply to suit the electronic system etc. (Power The large current at breakdown is brought about by 2 factors.
Electronic.) - Zener effect
Power electronic: - is a subject that concerns the application of electronic principles into - Avalanche effect
situation that are rated at power level rather than signal level. The major component of the At voltage up to about 5v the electric field near the junction is strong enough to pull
power electronic circuits is thyristor, hence P.E relates to thyristor circuitry, its design and electrons out of covalent bonds holding and these are available to alignment the
role in the control of power flow in a system. reverse current. This is known as the zener effect.
The avalanche effect occurs if the reverse bias voltage is made larger than 5V or so.
Application of Power electronic The velocity with which the charge carries moves through the crystal lattice is
Commercial: UPS, computer and office equipment elevators, light dimmers, flashers increased to such an extent that they attain enough kinetic energy to ionized atoms by
heating, air-conditioning, adverting, etc. collision. An atom is said to have been ionized when one of its electron has been
Industrial: arc and industrial furnaces blowers and fans, pumps and compressors, removed. Zener diodes are available in a number of standardized reference voltages
industrial lasers, welding, excavators, textile mills. Etc. e.g. it is possible to obtain a zener diode with a reference (breakdown) voltage of 8.2V.
Residential: air conditioning, cooking, lighting space heating, refrigerators, electric door An alternative name for the device is a voltage reference diode.
operators dryers, fans, PC Food Mixtures etc. Applications:
Transportation: Street Cars, trolley busses automotive electronics, battery charger. - Voltage reference
Aerospace: Space shuttle power supply system, Satellite P.s, an aircraft P.s - Peak clipper
Main Power Source. - Voltage Regulator
- Meter protection against damage from accidental application excessive voltage.

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Varactor Diodes THYRISTORS
A P-N junction is a region of high resistivity sandwiched between two regions of relatively - Thyristor comprise those solid-state devices that have two or more P.N
low resistivity such a junction therefore processes capacitance, the magnitude of which junction (three, four or five) semi-conductors layers that can be switched
given by :C = A/wwhere from non-conducting to conducting state. It is a solid-state electronic switch
 – Permittivity of semiconductor for high values of current in the range of amperes. It has replaced relays,
A – Area of the function mechanical switches in many applications such as lighting, motor speed
w – Width of the depletion layer. w is not constant quantity but instead varies control, etc.
with the magnitude and the polarity of the voltage applied across the junction. - Formerly there was order device called thyratron which was order device
Most semiconductor diodes are manufactured in such a way that their junction capacitance called thyratron which was a gas – filled tube that passes current when an arc
is minimized but varactor diode has been designed to have a particular range of discharge occurs at a critical firing voltage.
capacitance values. - Below is thyristor family:
The varactor diode is operated with a reverse bias and then its junction capacitance is
inversely proportion to the square root of the bias voltage V i.e. Thyristor
C = K/ V
Figure shows graphically how the capacitance of a varactor diode varies with the reverse
bias voltage and it, also shows the symbol of a varactor diode. Typically the capacitance
variation might be 2 – 12 pF or 20 – 28 pF or 27 –72 pF.
Unidirectional Bi-directional Triggers
Application of varactor diode (4 layers) (5 layers)
1. In automatic frequency control device
2. Adjustable band pass filter
3. FM modulator
4. Parametric amplifier.
SCR SCS LASCR TRIAC UJT Bi-directional

KEY Unidirectional 5 layers 4 layers

(4 layers)
SCR – Silicon Controlled rectifier
SCS – Silicon Controlled Switch
LASCR – Light Activated Silicon controlled rectifier SBS DIAC
SUS – Silicon Unilateral switch. SUS Shockley
Diode
SBS – Silicon Bilateral Switch.
UJT – unipolar Junction Transistors.

 SCR is unidirectional device allowing the current to flow in only one direction
while the triac is bi-directional type and may be thought as two SCRs connected
in antiparallel.
 Once a thyristor “fires’, current continues to flow until the voltage across the
device reverses. In order to trigger thyristor into conduction a number of
triggering devices have been developed, which with suitable circuiting can
control the point at which thyristor begin to conduct, thus a.c and d.c power
variation is made possible allowing light, heat and motor speed control to be
carried out economically and efficiently.

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  UJT are ideally suited for firing thyristor, which connected in suitable relaxation a) Biasing and operation
oscillation circuit.  When a voltage is applied across thyristor with polarity such that its anode is
held negative with respect to its cathode PN Junction J1 and J3 are reverse
THYRISTOR AS A PNPN DEVICE biased and device only conducts a small leakage current.
 If the reverse voltage across the SCR is increased the leakage current will
also increase slowly at first, and then at the point where an avalanche
P1 P1 P1 breakdown occurs it rapidly increases to a large value that may destroy the
device.
N1 N1 N1
 If a forward voltage is applied across the SCR so that the anode is held
P2 P2 P2 junction J1 and J3 will become forward biased but junction J2 will be reverse
biased. Also once again only small leakage current will be flowing and the
N2 N2 N2 SCR is said to be forward blocking state (OFF). This forward leakage
current also increases slowly with increase in forward voltage until the
breakdown voltage VBO is reached. At this point the current passed by SCR
Fig1.3. Thyristor as PNPN device increases rapidly and the voltage across the device falls to a much lower
value VT .
 In fig. 2b, positive voltage is applied to T1, then the middle junction has a reverse  SCR is made to conduct a large forward current when the forward anode-
bias, positive at the N side of J2 and negative at the P side. No forward current cathode voltage is smaller than breakdown voltage VBO by triggering or
can flow between the end terminals because of the reverse bias across J2. firing the device. Triggering is achieved by injecting a current pulse into the
 In fig 2c, negative voltage is applied to T1. The J1 and J3 have reverse bias. gate terminal.
Again, no current can flow between the end terminals because of the internal  When a gate signal is applied, thyristor turns ON at a voltage below VB0
reverse bias. depending on the magnitude of gate current. The higher the gate current, the
 Now what the PNPN device needs is an added gate electrode to provide a trigger lower is the forward break sown voltage.
voltage that can start the current conduction.  Once the thyristor start conducting a forward current exceeding the minimum
valve called the latching current, the gate signal is no longer required to
1. SILICON CONTROLLED RECTIFIER (SCR) maintain the device in its ON state. The thyristor returns to blocking state if
It is 4-layer PNPN device that consist of an alloy of N-type material into a silicon the anode current falls below a level called holding current.
PNP pellet providing two main terminals namely anode and cathode. The gate  Note hence that the IL is associated with turn ON process while IH to the
contact is welded to P- region to form the third terminal usually referred to as gate. It turn OFF process.
is a rectifier with a control element. It consists of 3 diodes connected back to back  One the thyristor start conducting fully, gate loses control on it and the
with gate connection. It is widely used as a switching device in power control device can turn OFF i.e. become non-conducting only on reducing the
applications. It can control loads by switching currents off and on up to many forward current to a level below the holding current IH. This process of
thousands times/sec. It can also switch on for a variable length of time, thereby turning OFF is also referred to commutation.
delivering selected amount of power to the load.
Basic operation of SCR
P1

N1

P2

N2
SCR symbol and its construction

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b) Two transistor Analogy The operational differences between SCR and Transistor is:
The principle of operation of an SCR can be explained by treating SCR to be - Once a SCR is turned on by a gate signal, it remains latched in on-state due
constituted by two BJT transistors, one PNP and NPN. The gate current is to internal regenerative action whereas a transistor must be given continuous
amplified by the NPN transistor and then appears at the collector as hfe2Ig. This base signal to remain in on-state.
current then flows in the base of PNP transistor to appear at its collector as - In order to turn-off a SCR, a reverse voltage must be applied across its
hfe1.hfe2Ig. In turn this current appears at the base of NPN transistor where anode-cathode terminals. Whereas a transistor turns off when its base signal
regenerative action takes place which result in device switching to its forward on is removed.
characteristics.
c) Firing or Triggering
The SCR may switch from a non-conducting state to conducting state through
several ways.
(i) Forward voltage trigger: When anode to cathode forward voltage of SCR
is increased with gate act kept open, the reverse bias junction J2 suffers an
avalanche breakdown at a voltage VBO. At this voltage, thyristor changes
state from OFF state to ON state characterized by low voltage drop across
SCR and a large forward current in practice. This method of triggering is
not employed as it may result in damage to the device.
(ii) Gate Triggering: In this method, which is widely used, forward anode to
cathode widely used, forward anode to cathode voltage is kept at a value
much lower than VBO, and a positive voltage signal of suitable magnitude
is applied at the gate resulting in triggering of the thyristor from OFF to
ON state. The gate signal may be in form of D.C voltage, pulse voltage or
sinusoidal voltage.
(iii) Thermal triggering: Under forward blocking state, most of the applied
voltage appears across the reverse bias junction J2. This large voltage
SCR two-transistor model across J2 along with the leakage current way causes enough dissipation of
energy as heat at J2. This increases in temperature causes further increase
In the off-state of a transistor, collector current IC is related to emitter current IE in the leakage current through J2. This is a cumulative process and may
as: IC = IE +ICBO turn on the SCR at suitably high temp.
Where  is common-base current gain hfe and ICBO is common-base (iv) dv/dt triggering: Under forward bias condition, J1 and J3 are forward
leakage current of collector-base junction. biased whereas J2 is reverse biased . This J2 behaves as a capacitor. Now
For transistor Q1: emitter current IE = anode current Ia and IC = collector current if the forward voltage is applied suddenly, a charging current flows
IC1. IC1 = 1Ia + ICBO1 tending to turn ON the device. let the applied voltage be V, charge Q and
For Q2, IC2 = 2Ik + ICBO2 junction capacitance CJ, then the instantaneous current ic due to suddenly
The sum of the two collector current is equal to external circuit current Ia entering applied voltage is
at anode terminal A. ic = dQ/dt = d(Cjv) /dt = Cj dv/dt.
Ia = IC1+ IC2 If assumed Cj is almost constant, when dv/dt is large, the device may turn-
Ia = 1Ia + ICBO1 + 2Ik + ICBO2 ON even when the voltage across the device is small.
When gate current is applied, then Ik = Ia+ Ig. Substituting this value of Ik in the (v) Radiation Triggering/Light triggering.
above Eq. gives: In this method, additional energy for triggering is imparted by light
Ia = 1Ia + ICBO1 + 2 (Ia + Ig) + ICBO2 radiation or some other radiation. This additional energy results in
generation of electron-hole pairs thereby increasing the concentration of
Ia = 2Ig +ICBO1+ICBO2
change carries, hence an instantaneous flows of current within the device
1- (1+2)
and triggering of the device, e.g. in LASCR.

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d) Turning OFF (Commutation) - At voltages less than the breakover voltage, a very small amount of current called the
It is not possible for a thyristor to turn itself OFF; hence the associated circuit must leakage current flows through the device. Leakage current produced due to the drift
reduce the thyristor current to zero to make it turn OFF. This process is known as of electrons and holes at the depletion region is not sufficient to cause conduction in
commutation. Commutation signifies transfer of current from one path to another. the device. The device remains practically in non-conducting mode – the blocking
Commutation methods are classified into 4 groups:- state.
- At point A when the voltage level reaches the breakover voltage, the device starts
i) Natural or line commutation conducting. During its conduction, the device exhibits negative resistance
It makes use of the alternating on reversing nature of a.c voltage to cause transfer characteristics. The current flowing in the device starts increasing and the voltage
of current. As the a c current passes through zero from positive to negative side, across it starts decreasing. This portion of characteristic shown by AB is known as
a reverse voltage appears across the thyristor turning it off. It is mainly used in the conduction state.
ac voltage controllers; phase controlled rectifiers, inventers, step down - Similar explanation holds good for the negative half-cycle of triggering. The
cycloconverters etc. characteristic obtained in the third quadrant will be a replica of that obtained in the
ii) Forced commutation first quadrant. This is because the doping level is same at the two junctions of the
Thyristor is turned OFF by reducing the device current to zero and maintained at device.
zero for sufficiently long time to permit removal of change carriers. Used in D.C - Once the device starts conducting, the current flowing through it is very high which
choppers and inventers. has to be limited by some external resistance.
iii) Load commutation - DIACs are mainly used as a trigger device for TRIAC that require either positive or
L and C are connected in series with the load impedance or C in parallel with the negative gate pulses to turn ON.
load impedance such that the overall circuit is under damped.
Used in services inventers.
iv) External pulse Commutation
Uses an external commutating pulse applied through a transformer. This circuit
has very high efficiency. However it is not popularly used.

e) Application
- SCR behave as a bistable switch, either non-conducting or conducting.
Typical applications are in regulated power supplies, dc to ac inverters, radar
modulations, servo systems and latching relays etc.
. Symbol and V-I characteristics of DIAC
2. DIAC
It is a three-layer dual-trigger diode that is bi-directional thus produces an output 3. TRIAC
pulse on each half cycle. It functions like a pair of back-to-back trigger diode. Hence, A triac is a semi-conductor device whose operation is similar to that of two SCR
it can be switched from off to on state for either polarity of the applied voltage. connected in reverse parallel. A triac is able to conduct a large conduct a large
Because of this feature, DIAC are frequently used as triggering devices in TRIAC current in either direction or the other by a gate pulse of appropriate polarity.
phase control circuit used for light dimming, universal motor speed control and heat
control. Operation
The gate terminal is connected to both P2 and N3 so that the triac can be turned on by
Operation either the positive going or negative going pulse of gate current. The input and output
Conduction occurs in the DIAC when the breakover voltage is reached in either of main terminal MT1, and MT2 respectively which are connected to both an N-type
polarity across the terminals. and P-type region i.e. MT1 is connected to N1 and P1 and hence it is possible for
 When T1 is positive with respect to T2, and if voltage V12 exceeds VBO1, then current to flow either:
the structure PNPN conducts. a) With MT2 positive with respect to MT1. The path will be P1, N2 P2 and N4.
 Similarly when T2 is positive with respect to T1 and if voltage V21 exceeds b) With MT1 positive with respect to MT2. The path will be P2, N2, P1 and N1.
VBO2, the structure PNPN conducts. When the triac is ON, a current flowing in MT1 and MT2 is known as the principal
current. As with SCR, the triac can be turned on by;
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 i) Apply a gate current
ii) Exceeding the avalanche breakdown voltage Arrangements shown in (a) and (c) are most often employed since the use of the same
iii) By allowing MT1 – MT2 applied voltage to increase at a rate in excess of polarity voltage for both the gate and the MT2 terminal allows the power supplies to be
maximum dv/dt value. derived from the same source, and this considerably simplified the circuiting of the trigger
module.
Static Characteristics of a TRIAC
Advantages and Disadvantages of TRIAC over SCR
Merits
 Triac can be triggered with positive or negative polarity voltage.
 Triac does not need a diode to protect against reverse voltage.

Disadvantages
 Have low dv/dt voting compared to SCR.
 Reliability is less
 Triggering act for triac a careful consideration.

4. UJT (Unijuction Transistors)

There are three types:
i) Standard UJT
(a) circuit Symbol and (b) static V-I characteristics of a triac. ii) Complementary UJT (CUJT)
iii) Programmable UJT (PUT)
When MT2 is positive with respect to MTI, the triac operates in the 1st quadrant of its static The UJT, CUJT and PUT are widely used for generation of trigger pulses for SCRs.
characteristics, if it is not triggered, the small forward current increases slowly with
increase in voltage until the breakdown voltage VB0 is reached and then the current CUJT
increases rapidly. - This is a silicon planar monolithic integrated circuit. It has unijuction characteristics
The device can be turned ON at a smaller forward current by injecting a suitable gate with superior stability, much tighter intrinsic standoff ratio () distribution and low
current and the characteristics show the effect of increasing gate current. The gate current voltage. CUJT characteristic are like those of standard UJT except that the current
must be maintained until the main current is at least equal to the latching current. and voltage applied to it are of opposite polarity. It can be used in many applications
When MT1 is positive with respect to MT2, the triac operates in the 3rd quadrant and the that use the standard UJT. Their unique stability and uniform property make them
current focus on the opposite direction. The triac can be triggered to operate in either ideal for stable oscillators, timers and frequency dividers.
quadrant by an application of either a positive or negative gate current pulse i.e.
PUT
- PUT is a three terminal planar PNP device in the standard plastic low-cost TO–98
package.
- The terminals are designated at anode, gate and cathode. PUT offers many
advantages over conventional UJT. The designer selects R1, and R2 to program
unijuction characteristics to meet particular needs.
- A definite voltage is applied to the gate of PUT through the voltage divider action of
R2 and R1. The voltage is given by VR1= R1 V
R1 + R2

The capacitor is charged Vc from a voltage V through R. when the anode voltage Vc
exceed the gate voltage VR1, the PUT start conducting and triggers the SCR.
Turning-ON process in a triac
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 The ratio of RB1 to the entire interbase resistance RBB is intrinsic stand – off ratio .
= RB1 = RB1
RBB RB1 + RB2
When VBB is applied between B2 and B1, the voltage Vx which appears between the
junction and base B1 is given by:
Vx = VBB RB1 = VBB
RB1 + RB2
Operation
- When emitter diode is reverse biased, extremely small emitter current flows and UJT
is on OFF state, due to high valve of RBI
- When emitter diode is forward biased, no current flows through the diode so long as
the applied voltage is less than Vx= VBB. When the applied voltage exceeds Vx,
current flows through the diode so long as the applied voltage is less than Vx, current
flows decreases the value of RB1, through the process of conductivity modulation.
- UJT is normally operated with both B2 and E biased positive with respect to B1.
When VE is increased from zero, and as long as the VEVBB, the E-B, pn junction
is reverse biased and the IE is negative as shown by curve AB.
- When VE = VBB + VD at point P, IE becomes positive and pn junction begins to
conduct. VD is the forward voltage drop across the junction. Point P is the peak
Typical firing circuit using PUT
point. At point P, VP = VBB + VD , the peak point voltage.
- ON STATE: At P, emitter injects holes in the base region extending pn junction to B1
UJT
because of this increased number of positive change carries holes, RB1 of this
Basically, it is a three terminal semiconductor diode. It has two unequally doped regions
decreases. Thus the device exhibits negative resistance in the region PV as shown in
with three external leads doped regions with three external leads. The emitter is heavily
the fig1.11.
doped whereas bar of N-material is lightly doped and hence possesses high sensitivity.
- At point V, (valley point) the entire base region has gone saturated and RB1 no longer
Thus UJT has emitter, base B1 and base B2. The resistance between B1 and B2 is interbase
decreases with increase of current. Any further increase in IE is accompanied by a rise
resistance RBB (with order of 5 to 10K). The RBB is resistance of the n-type silicon base of voltage VE as shown by VC.
bar and is considered to be constituted by: - Once UJT is ON, its emitter current IE depends mainly on VEE and RE. As VEE
- Resistance from B1 to junction point, RB1 decreases, IE decreases along CV on the VE-IE curve to the valley current IV which is
- Resistance from B2 to Junction point, RB2. the holding current for the UJT.
NB: RB1 is greater than RB2. - Finally as IE reduces below IV, the UJT, turns OFF and its operation instantaneously
switches back to the OFF region where IE  0 and VE VEE.

Basic structure, circuit symbol and equivalent circuit of UJT

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UJT Relaxation Oscillator Triggering Controllable Switches (Power Transistors)
UJT is an extremely efficient switch mostly used as triggering device fro SCRs and - Power transistors are devices that have controlled turn-on and turn-off characteristics
TRIACs. Below is a basic circuit of UJT as saw tooth voltage generator. hence can be turned “ON”and “OFF” by relatively very small control signals.
- These devices are switching devices and are operated in the saturation region resulting
in low on-state voltage drop, thus operated in SATURATION and CUT-OFF modes
only.
- They are turned on when a current signal is given to base or control terminal. The
transistor remains on so long as the control signal is present.
- The switching speeds of modern transistors is much higher than that of thyristors and
are used extensively in dc-dc and dc-ac converters.
- However their voltage and current ratings are lower than those of thyristors and are
therefore used in low to medium power applications.

Basic circuit and voltage waveform of UJT oscillator

R1 and R2 are kept small compared with RB1 and RB2. When VBB is applied, C charges
through R exponentially toward VBB with time constant 1 = RC. During this
charging process, emitter circuit of UJT remains open circuit. At this point VC = VE.
VC = VE = VBB (1- e-t/RC)
When VC =VE reaches Vp= VBB + VD, the Pn junction between E and B, breaks
down and UJT turns ON. Immediately C rapidly discharges through low value R1
- Power transistors are classified as follows
with very slow time constant 2 = RC. When VE drops to the VV, UJT turns off and
the cycle is repeated. o Bipolar junction transistors(BJTs)
o Metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors(MOSFETs)
Let T1, be the time taken by C to change from VV to VP through resistor R. o Insulated-gate bipolar transistors(IGBTs)
Then VP = VBB + VD
= VV + VBB (1-e-T1/RC) 6. Bipolar Junction Transistors
Assuming that VDVV the above equation gives - The need for a large blocking voltage in the off state and a high current carrying
= 1– e-TI/RC capability in the on state means that a power BJT must have substantially different
Hence T1 = RC In (1/1-) structure than its small signal equivalent.
Total time period of one cycle =T = T1 + T2 - The modified structure leads to significant differences in the I-V characteristics and
But T2  T1 Hence T =T1 switching behavior between power transistors and its logic level counterpart.
Then 1/f = T= RC In 1
1- Power Transistor Structure
Uses: - The structure of conventional transistor has a thin p-layer is sandwiched between two
- Sine wave generator – Switching.
n-layers or vice versa to form a three terminal device with the terminals named as
- Square law multivibrator – saw- generators
- Time delay circuits –for TV receivers. Emitter, Base and Collector.

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- The structure of a power transistor is as shown below

- The power transistor has steady state characteristics almost similar to signal level
- A power transistor is a vertically oriented four layer structure of alternating p-type and transistors except that the V-I characteristics has a region of quasi saturation as shown.
n-type. - Such feature is a consequence of the lightly doped collector drift region where the
- The vertical structure is preferred because it maximizes the cross sectional area and collector–base junction supports a low reverse bias.
through which the current in the device is flowing. This also minimizes on-state - If the transistor enters in the hard-saturation region the on-state power dissipation is
resistance and thus power dissipation in the transistor. minimized, but has to be traded off with the fact that in quasi-saturation the stored
- The doping of emitter layer and collector layer is quite large typically 1019cm-3. A charges are smaller. At high collector currents beta gain decreases with increased
special layer called the collector drift region (n-) has a light doping level of 1014. temperature and with quasi-saturation operation such negative feedback allows careful
- The thickness of the drift region determines the breakdown voltage of the transistor. device paralleling.
The base thickness is made as small as possible in order to have good amplification
capabilities, however if the base thickness is small the breakdown voltage capability
of the transistor is compromised.
- Practical power transistors have their emitters and bases interleaved as narrow fingers
as shown. The purpose of this arrangement is to reduce the effects of current crowding.
- This multiple emitter layout also reduces parasitic ohmic resistance in the base current
path which reduces power dissipation in the transistor.

Steady State Characteristics

- Figure shows the circuit to obtain the steady state characteristics and output
characteristics of the signal level transistor.

- There are four regions on voltage–current (VI) characteristics for a vertical power
transistor as shown: Cutoff region, Active region, quasi saturation and hard
saturation.
- The cutoff region is the area where base current is almost zero. Hence no collector
current flows and transistor is off.
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- In the quasi saturation and hard saturation, the base drive is applied and transistor - FET’s use field effect for their operation. FET is manufactured by diffusing two areas
is said to be on. Hence collector current flows depending upon the load. of p-type into the n-type semiconductor as shown.
- The power BJT is never operated in the active region (i.e. as an amplifier), it is - Each p-region is connected to a gate terminal; the gate is a p-region while source and
always operated between cutoff and saturation. drain are n-region.
- The BVSUS is the maximum collector to emitter voltage that can be sustained when - Since it is similar to two diodes one is a gate source diode and the other is a gate drain
BJT is carrying substantial collector current. diode.
- The BVCEO is the maximum collector to emitter breakdown voltage that can be - Unlike the bipolar junction transistor (BJT), the MOSFET device belongs to the
sustained when base current is zero and BVCBO is the collector base breakdown Unipolar Device family, since it uses only the majority carriers in conduction.
voltage when the emitter is open circuited. - Unlike low power (signal devices), power devices are more complicated in structure,
- The primary breakdown shown takes place because of avalanche breakdown of driver design, and understanding of their operational i–v characteristics.
collector base junction. Large power dissipation normally leads to primary breakdown. - Power MOSFET’s are generally of enhancement type only.
The second breakdown shown is due to localized thermal runaway. - This MOSFET is turned ‘ON’ when a voltage is applied between gate and source. The
- MOSFET can be turned ‘OFF’ by removing the gate to source voltage. Thus gate has
control over the conduction of the MOSFET.
- The turn-on and turn-off times of MOSFET’s are very small. Hence they operate at
very high frequencies; hence MOSFET’s are preferred in applications such as
choppers and inverters.
- Since only voltage drive (gate-source) is required, the drive circuits of MOSFET are
very simple. The paralleling of MOSFET’s is easier due to their positive temperature
coefficient.
- But MOSFTS’s have high on-state resistance hence for higher currents; losses in the
MOSFET’s are substantially increased. Hence MOSFET’s are used for low power
applications.
- On the other side of n substrate, a metal layer is deposited to form the drain terminal.
Advantages of BJT’s Now p regions are diffused in the epitaxially grown n layer. Further n regions are
- BJT’s have high switching frequencies since their turn-on and turn-off times are low. diffused in the p regions as shown.
- The turn-on losses of a BJT are small. - SiO2 layer is added, which is then etched so as to fit metallic source and gate terminals.
- BJT has controlled turn-on and turn-off characteristics since base drive control is A power MOSFET actually consists of a parallel connection of thousands of basic
possible. MOSFET cells on the same single chip of silicon.
- BJT does not require commutation circuits. - When gate circuit voltage is zero and VDD is present, n p junctions are reverse biased
and no current flows from drain to source.
Demerits of BJT - When gate terminal is made positive with respect to source, an electric field is
- Drive circuit of BJT is complex.
established and electrons from n channel in the p regions. Therefore a current from
- It has the problem of charge storage which sets a limit on switching frequencies. It
drain to source is established.
cannot be used in parallel operation due to problems of negative temperature
- Power MOSFET conduction is due to majority carriers therefore time delays caused
coefficient.
by removal of recombination of minority carriers is removed.
- Because of the drift region the ON state drop of MOSFET increases. The thickness of
Power MOSFET
the drift region determines the breakdown voltage of MOSFET

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Static Induction Transistors (SITS)
- A static induction transistor (SIT) is a high-voltage, high-power, high-frequency
device that can be considered essentially the solid-state version of a triode vacuum
tube, which has been known for a long time.
- It is a short N-channel majority carrier device where the P-type gate electrodes are
buried within the drain and source N-type layers.
- A drawback of the device is that it is normally on, but if gate voltage is negative, the
reverse-biased P-N junction will inhibit drain current flow.
- Functionally, it is almost identical to a junction-FET, except that its lower channel
resistance causes lower conduction drop.
- The reliability, noise, and radiation hardness of an SIT are claimed to be superior to a
MOSFET. Although the conduction drop of the device is lower than that of an
equivalent series-parallel combination of MOSFETs, the excessively large con
duction drop makes it unsuitable in most power electronics applications unless
justified by a need for FET-like switching frequency.
- These devices have been used in AM/FM transmitters, high-frequency induction
heating, high-voltage, low-current power supplies, ultrasonic generators, and linear
power amplifier

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